As a part of the 2025 StoryCorps mobile tour in Kalispell, Matt Laughlin (Director of the Wachholz College Center) and Jane Karas (President of Flathead Valley Community College) talk about the very first performance at the Wachholz College Center on November 4, 2022: the Wailin’ Jennys.
Matt Laughlin: So—construction happens, we break ground in spring of 2020, finally finish the construction in the fall of 2022, and our very first event—ever, concert—to happen, the inaugural event, was a performance by the Wailin’ Jennys on November 4, 2022. Think back to that evening and talk about what that felt like.
Jane Karas: So, that was quite the evening. There was so much excitement in the building. The energy level was really palpable. I mean, you could feel the energy zipping around the room and people who attended. And there were a lot of people that came from other parts of Montana and out of the state who came to see the Wailin’ Jennys. And it’s funny, we had a few people—even here, who worked at the college—who said, “I just bought tickets in Missoula. I didn’t know they were going to be here,” and then they sold their Missoula tickets, or they went to both shows.
I’d been in the performance hall a lot as it was being built, and saw it grow from nothing to this finished, amazing venue. And suddenly seeing it filled with people and energy. I mean, think we had over 900 people attend—
Matt Laughlin: Yeah.
Jane Karas: —that event, and watching people’s faces—
Matt Laughlin: Yeah.
Jane Karas: —and then having the Wailin’ Jennys come out and perform, and their comments. And then at the end, they did an acoustic—I think it was at the end—they might have done two acoustic numbers without any mics.
Matt Laughlin: Yeah, off-mic.
Jane Karas: Yeah, off-mic. And I do know even the architects were sitting up in the balcony in the very back, and they said, even they were like, “Wow, we did it! You could hear every word, every note was perfect.” So that was really fun.
And then after the concert, it was like watching people on cloud nine, and people would just say, “Thank you. I can’t believe we have this here. This is so amazing.” It was pretty awesome. What do you remember about that night? You worked really hard to make that night happen.
Matt Laughlin: I remember just leading up to that date, it was almost... I always think of it as, like, we planted a flag on November 4th. And at the time, when we did that, it felt like that would be, you know, a few months into our existence, in terms of a venue. And at the time, I didn’t know that that would end up being our very first concert. So, the very first show that we ever confirmed contractually was that November 4th performance by the Wailin’ Jennys. And then it just turned out, with the construction delays and timing and all that through the summer of 2022 and into the fall, that that ended up being our very first show that we ever did.
And I can remember, I mean, there were carpet tiles being laid two days before we opened. And it was... We came down the home stretch and finished it just in time. But it all worked. It felt like it all came together at the perfect time. And it was... It was just amazing. It felt really good to have that achievement.
—
The 2025 StoryCorps mobile tour is recording at Flathead Valley Community College from May 30 - June 27, 2025, giving Montanans the opportunity to preserve their conversations and stories for future generations. StoryCorps Kalispell is brought to you in part by Flathead Valley Community College.